WO 2007/071335 A1 discloses a vehicle heating apparatus that comprises a plurality of heating rods. Each heating rod comprises a housing tube that is an extruded profile. PTC elements are arranged in the housing tube and are held by a frame together with a contact plate. Once the PTC elements and the contact plate have been inserted into the frame, the housing tubes are pressed, thus achieving good thermal coupling between the housing tubes and the PTC elements. An advantage of heating rods of this type is that the individual components are protected by the housing tube and heat generated by the PTC elements can be dissipated well by the housing tube.